Tuesday, November 2, 2010

rice.

October 28, 2010 at 9:40 pm
WOW. How is it the end of October already?? That means it’s almost November, which means it’s almost Thanksgiving and then it’s Christmas and that means I get to see my Dad!! OH MY. I keep thinking about how it’s fall at home and everyone is probably pulling out their sweaters and scarves and such and I’m in shorts and a tank top sweating profusely every day. Haha :) I won’t have had winter in a year and a half! That’s so crazy, I think I’m going to forget what it’s like.
Well, today started early. Steph and I were on for breakfast and we were making a special one- beans, fried plantains, and arroz con leche. We got up at 5:30 and began our cooking extravaganza. I was in charge of making the arroz con leche. Well… first- I have never made rice in my life, second- I really had no idea how to make arroz con leche or how much of what to put in it, and third- I’m white, so my arroz con leche will never taste as good as if a Peruvian made it. But even tho there were so many factors against me I was determined to give it my best shot. Of course, I have see rice made many times here so I just pretended I knew what I was doing and measured out my rice and water and brought it to a boil and covered it. While it did it’s thing, I cut some more plantains for Steph as she was frying them. About 10 minutes into my rice cooking, I added 2 cans of milk, some sugar, a pinch of vanilla, and a few cinnamon sticks. It actually looked really good and I tasted it and it even tasted right! I was so excited that I hadn’t failed! Well, we got everything ready and I was so excited to serve it because this is the first time we’d had a breakfast like this. So, I told everyone “Esta es el mejor desayuno en todo el mundo.” (this is the best breakfast in the world.) They all thought it was funny and all were excited. When they got to my pot of arroz con leche, I heard some snickering from the local guys… I took a look and much to my dismay- my rice had ended up SUPER sticky!! It was terrible! My little heart was crushed…. Haha :) ok, it wasn’t that dramatic, but it was really sticky and I did feel bad. But, they graciously ate it and a couple of them fixed it up. I kept telling them I was sorry, but they insisted everything was fine. We have a good group of guys here. :) Anyway- breakfast really was a hit and I think I just need a little more practice with the arroz con leche. Just think, next year you yourself could be having some of my bomb Peruvian arroz con leche. What a treat. :)
Next item on the agenda was to go to Pucallpa. It was our day off today since we had a clinic on Sunday which is our normal day off. We headed out around 10 and spent a long day there. I got some good internet time and had a good lunch and all that good stuff. We also talked to our friend Gino a little bit, and that’s always fun. Gino is this hippie Peruvian guy who makes super cool jewelry. He sits on one corner in Pucallpa with his buds and they are so cool. They are so nice and chill and they help us with our Spanish. It’s so fun to talk to them and Gino said he would teach us how to make bracelets. Sometime we’re gonna do it.
I’m feeling VERY excited tonight because Steph and I get to skype Union tomorrow!!! AND not only do we get to skype union but we get to skype our families and I get to skype Mitchell!!! I was feeling very distressed because there is a lack of good and reliable internet here for us to use for skype. The internet cafes typically don’t have skype, and the 2 other places that we thought were going work didn’t work out. But after the robbery we made friends with this American guy who works at an anti-drug place here and so we called him up and he told us we could use his internet all afternoon! I’m so excited to sit in an air conditioned office and talk to the people I love. How could it get any better?! :)
On that note, I need to go to bed. Sorry about all the rambling news in this entry… Oh well. :) Good night!